Crystal structure of a ten-amino acid protein.
What is the smallest protein? This is actually not such a simple question to answer, because there is no established consensus among scientists as to the definition of a protein. We describe here a designed molecule consisting of only 10 amino acids. Despite its small size, its essential characteristics, revealed by its crystal structure, solution structure, thermal stability, free energy surface, and folding pathway network, are consistent with the properties of natural proteins. The existence of this kind of molecule deepens our understanding of proteins and impels us to define an "ideal protein" without inquiring whether the molecule actually occurs in nature.
Honda
Shinya
S
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Central 6, Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan. s.honda@aist.go.jp
Akiba
Toshihiko
T
Kato
Yusuke S
YS
Sawada
Yoshito
Y
Sekijima
Masakazu
M
Ishimura
Miyuki
M
Ooishi
Ayako
A
Watanabe
Hideki
H
Odahara
Takayuki
T
Harata
Kazuaki
K
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008958:Models, Molecular; D055550:Protein Stability; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
D000596:Amino Acids; D011506:Proteins